A.... and B.... Baptisms on January 19, 2013

 

The man on the left is their uncle, who baptized them. They were so excited to get baptized, and they got special dresses for the occasion :) B.... loves purple, and A.... loves pink, so sometimes that is how I would tell them apart!

January 21, 2013

 

Hola Familia y amigos!

 

.... One evening early this week, we met with B.... and his family. B.....'s wife is a member, and so is his oldest daughter, and B..... has been taking the missionary lessons for years. He is a really good guy, he just hasn't been able to gain his own testimony. We weren't sure what to teach him, since he has already heard all of the lessons multiple times, so we decided to have a lesson about testimonies. We read with their family the story about how Alma the Younger gained a testimony, and emphasized how we each need to gain our own testimonies, and the only way we can do that is through prayer. At that point I felt the Spirit tell me to share how I gained my testimony of prayer-- how after I read it through by myself for the first time, when I was 14, I decided to take Moroni's Promise (Moroni 10:3-5) and pray to recieve a confirmation for myself. I described the experience and how I felt an answer from God which was so strong that from that point on I knew that I could never deny that  know that the Book of Mormon is a true book, and that the words it contans were inspired by God. The Spirit in the room was so strong, and B.... confessed that he knows that he needs to gain a restimony for himself. It was a eally neat experience.

 

We met with our new investigator family on Saturday, but the mom, H........ wasn't able to make it due to her work schedule. We still had a lesson with her kids though, as well as their grandma (nonmenber) and their friend C....... (18 year old less active). We taught them about the Holy Ghost, prayer, and the importance of the Book of Mormon. We gave them each a Book of Mormon, and they were all excited to sart reading it (well, the 9 year old boy not so much). We taught them who the Holy Ghost is, which they were a little confused/skeptical about, but then we asked C...... if he had ever had any experiences with the Holy Ghost, and he proceded to bear a beautiful, simple testimony about the Holy Ghost and how it has helped him in his life although he had not been to church for 5 years. It was inspired that C....... was there because I think that moment where he bore his testimony effected the other kids in a more significant way than anything we said could have. I pray every day that this family will continue to progress--they seem so prepared for the Gospel!

 

I think one of the most amazing things that I have experienced on my mission is seeing how the Spirit prompts my companion and I in the same way. During the last fast and testimony meeting, I felt inspired to share my testimony on the Atonement, using Mosiah 14:3-5. We went up to the front together, and Hermana Chase bore her testimony first--on the Atonement. It was amazing how inline our testmonies were. Then one time we were sharing a spiritual thought with a member and his nonmember wife (she was in the other room, but I know she was listening). I opened up to Ether 12:27, but part way through I felt that they needed to hear about Christ instead-- so I skipped the quote from President Uchtdorf that I always share along with that verse. My companion tied the verse into a testimony about the Atonement, and after we left, she told me that she was glad that I hadn't read the quote because for some reason she felt that it wasn't right to share at the time, although it is an amazing quote. We had both felt the same way. I think that experiences like these have strengthened my confidence to follow the promptings that I recieve from the Spirit--it happens so often that Hermana Chase and I are both prompted to knock on a particular door, or to leave a house we were just about to contact.

 

Mom and Dad--The other day, Hermana Chase said something that I really needed to hear, which I think that you might find it neat as well. She said, "I hope that someday you realize how special you are to have been called to this mission. It takes a strong person to preach the gospel to the world, but it takes a particular strength to preach it among the Saints. Where there is the most righteous, Satan often works the hardest to spread the most evil. Not everyone has a testimony that can stand strong in the face of general authorities who have gone apostate or joined the FLDS church, or in the face of the kind of anti-mormonism that is found here." That made me realize that I am here for a reason, that God has a particular work here for me to do. There is someone here that only I can touch. I pray each morning that I will be filled with the Spirit, that He may direct me to where I need to be and to say the things that He wants me to say.

 

I am so excited to be able to serve the Lord by being a missionary. I feel closer and closer to Him each day.

 

I love you all so much! Have a great week.

 

Love,

Hermana Burner

 

 

Huntington

 

 



Who is the tall girl?
 

 

January 14, 2013

 

Familia--

 

After being in the mission field for only a month, I think I am already beginning to see what Avery went through and why some things became more important to him than others.

 

A few days ago, a nice lady dropped dinner off for us at our house, and we were excited to find that instead of the usual meat and potatoes, she had brought us homemade salsa, enchiladas, and chips. Without wasting a moment, we turned on the oven to heat the enchiladas and popped open the jar of salsa. Raising the jar to our noses, the smell of authentic homemade mexican salsa filled us with surprise and delight. We hurriedly opened the bag of tortilla chips and dunked the chips into the salsa, anticipating a spicy authenticity not experienced since leaving our homes in California.

 

Alas, the anticipated moment of delight did not come. We were greeted with the most bland taste ever known to salsa. The only ray of light was the knowledge that I had some Pace salsa in the fridge. Nevertheless, I can now see why Avery asked you to send him Ricardos salsa so much.

 

Well, I wrote that last week, but better late than never, right?

 

So I went to Price 4 times this last week--- Pday, District meeting, and taking and picking up the car--- but I have yet to run into Elder Callor or the Mohrs. I'll most likely be here for another 2 transfers though, so maybe I still will at some point.

 

Love you all!
Hermana Burner

 



January 14, 2013

 

Hola familia y amigos!

 

We got our transfer call to stay here in Huntington! President was still thinking about taking us out and putting elders here, but we told him that things have been fine here, so he let us stay. Apparently some of the members had heard rumors about it though, so during our Correlation Meeting on Sunday, a couple of the ward misison leaders were talking about how the Stake President should try to talk President Leonard into keeping sisters here. They seemed pretty upset at the idea of having elders instead of sisters! They always tell us how sisters do work that elders can't. I don't know about that, but it was nice to feel so appreciated!

 

This transfer is only going to be 5 weeks long, due to the time new missionaries spend in the MTC being shortened. After this transfer it will go back to 6 weeks though :) I heard that this transfer the only new sister we are getting is Mandarin speaking, and next transfer we are getting two French speaking sisters, so I should be good on not having to train for a while! Not that I don't want to train. It just makes me a little nervous!

 

Last week we took our car to Price to get fixed, so we spent a few days walking. Which was SUPER cold. One day all of our appointments fell through last minute so we spent most of the time outside tracting, and at one point it was just so cold that Sister Chase started laughing. I seriously thought she had gone mad. But she just thought it was so ironic that our appointments had all fallen through on the coldest day we had to walk lol. But it was a great experience for us because now we are so grateful for our car, and we mention it in almost every prayer before we leave!

 

The twins are getting baptized this Saturday! I am so excited. They are just so adorable, and they have such a love for going to church and learning about Christ and His Gospel. Also, things are looking good for "T...'s" baptism next week-- everything worked out with him getting off parole, and he is having his interview this week! He has been waiting for this for such a long time, and I feel blessed to be here when he finally gets to be baptized and make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father.

 

Zone Conference is next week, which we are super excited for. Instead of Mission Conferences, our mission does two separate conferences: Northern and Southern, and we call them Zone Conferences. So it will be big and I will get to meet a lot more missionaries :) Yay!

 

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

 

Con amor a los cielos,

Hermana Burner

January 7, 2013

 

Hola Familia!

 

I hope everyone is starting off the new year well! I've been a little sick lately, just enough that my mind has been completely gone and Hermana Chase has had to teach mostly by herself....But it's better that way because when I was still attempting to participate, I tried to schedule an appointment for P-day and who knows what else.  I got a blessing from my zone leaders and district leaders last Thursday though, and it has been a lot better since then.

 

Transfers are this next week, and Hermana Chase still has her hopes up that maybe we will be transferred out of Huntington. I'm 95% sure we are just going to stay here though. I don't want to leave because the work is finally starting to pick up and we are developing stronger ties with the members here.

 

Hermana Chase and I are still trying to find some snow boots. We went to Walmart and Payless last week and they were both out of any in our sizes, so we are going to try to find some again next week, maybe at Kmart or Big Five. Thank goodness Price has stores!

 

New Years was SO much fun. The Zone Leaders found a family in Helper (that's their area) who let us use their TV, which turned out to be this huge home theater. With two rows of recliners and a sound system made our chairs vibrate. It was sawesome! I brought muddy buddies and the elders brought popcorn, and after the movie we played phase 10. It was super fun :) Our district is meeting up again later today to play some sports.

 

I've been kinda avoiding mentioning investigators since I always thought that was the most boring part of missionary emails, but it seems like you really want to know so....here ya go. We have been teaching this man named "T..." who is probably in his 60's, and the sisters have been teaching him for about a year now. He is finally (hopefully) getting off parole this next week, and he is super excited that he can finally be baptized. We had him meet with the Bishop yesterday because we aren't sure what he was on parole for, and he will have to be interviewed by the mission president, so we still have a bunch of things to do to prepare for his baptism. But we are praying that everything turns out well!

 

"A..." and "B...." are two adorable 9-year-old redheaded twins. Their family hasn't been to church in a while, but they have gone the last two weeks, so things are looking good for their baptims on Jan. 19th! They are so cute and love to learn. They are a little shy, but Sister Chase thinks they want to grow up to be just like me...the first time I met them, one of them said, "I think you're pretty!" Haha, it was cute. They just have this pure innocence and goodness about them, and I know that they are going to be amazing examples of disciples of Christ to their family and friends.

 

There are more, of course, but I am running out of time so I will have to just tell you about a couple in each email. I've also gotten to visit with some ex-polygamists who belong to the FLDS church. They just say that they "respect what [we] are doing, and have very similar beliefs, but prefer to practice on [their] own." Maybe someday we can convert them :)

 

Love you all very much!

Hermana Burner